It was not that long ago — just a few years back, in fact — that the vast majority of head coaches in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League were seasonal, part-time workers.

In fact, a few of the head coaches were volunteers who worked for expenses only.

Nowadays,
the NOJHL is a 12-team league. Most of the bench bosses are full-time —
or at least full-time/part-time on a year-round basis.

Of
further note, NOJHL commissioner Robert Mazzuca is the full-time head
of a league that once utilized bosses who were paid a very low,
part-time wage.

Back
to the coaches, as NOJHL teams employ full-time bench bosses who are
paid accordingly, the league is able to attract better players. After
all, the better the coaches are, the better the players who are
attracted to the league.

Even the smallest of the small-market teams have a full-time hockey person on board.

For
example, the Blind River Beavers employ Kyle Brick as their full-time
coach and general manager. And it should be noted that in the three
seasons that Brick has been with Blind River, the Beavers have gone from
a last-place laughingstock to a legitimate contender in the West
Division of the NOJHL.

Up
in small-town Hearst, Marc Lafleur is the coach and general manager of
the Lumberjacks, who placed first in the East Division during the
2018-2019 regular season. Lafleur has the experience of being an
assistant coach in the Quebec Major Jr. Hockey League and could still be
there if he hadn’t opted to be a full-time coach and GM in the NOJHL.

In the Twin Soo market, both the Soo Thunderbirds and Soo Eagles have first-rate coaches in place.

Former
Ontario Hockey League and European scoring star John Parco — who was
also a championship coach at the pro level in Italy — is in his second
season as an outstanding bench leader with the Thunderbirds.

How Parco is not coaching in the OHL is beyond me. At the very least, Parco is probably an equal — or even better — coach than just about any associate or assistant in the OHL.

Then there is Doug Laprade, who is in his first season with the Eagles.

Not
only does Laprade — who owns an insurance bureau in the Michigan Soo —
have a Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association championship
from his days as a player, but he also won the big prize as an
assistant coach. Both NCAA national championship teams that Laprade was a
part of were the Lake Superior State Lakers.

Laprade can also count on championship coaching assistance from Eagles president and general manager Bruno Bragagnolo.

Bragagnolo
coached the Eagles to the NOJHL championship during the 2010-2011
season and has been a mainstay with the franchise ever since. Before
that, Bragagnolo won multiple championships as a coach with the
reputable Chicago Young Americans AAA midget program.

The number of proven coaches in the NOJHL forms an impressive list.

Besides
the ones already mentioned, there are the likes of Dan Cuomo of the
Rayside Balfour Canadians, Dave Clancy of the Espanola Express, Corey
Beer of the Timmins Rock, Ryan Leonard of the Cochrane Crunch and Ryan
Wood of the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners.

It is quite the coaches corner that the NOJHL boasts.

What you think about “NOJHL has good coaches”

I notice you omitted any mention of the coaching situation of the Powassan Voodoos. This brings to mind the kerfuffle from a season or two ago.
Unless I missed something along the way (very possible), we never did hear all the ‘dirt’ that supposedly transpired behind the scenes.

Do you have any info that we’ve missed, or did the whole episode just prove to be ‘much ado about nothing’? I know it’s old news now, but perhaps there’s an interesting story to be told, while we’re speaking of NOJHL coaches.

We didn’t miss your ‘proven’ qualifier, Randy. And, on second thought, I agree this is not the right venue to digress from that. Including the old Powassan story would be like mixing the proverbial apples and oranges.
That being said, as to the Voodoos past situation, we would still be interested in any information, if you choose to mention it in a separate article. Since I’m unaware of any resolution or further comments after the original story bounced around, it seems like ‘unfinished business’. I’m just ‘curiouser and curiouser’.
Still love reading your good stuff. Keep it coming.
Cheers!